The Manhunt
by Designated Crowd Ninja
Summary: A story about two mutants who react very differently to the same treatment. Can they change each others views? - None of the poems used are my own, for the autors of the poems please PM -
1. Chapter 1

_**The night is darkening round me**_

_**The wild winds coldly blow;**_

_**But a tyrant spell has bound me**_

_**And I cannot, cannot go.**_

_**The giant trees are bending**_

_**Their bare thoughts weighted with snow,**_

_**And the storm is fast descending,**_

_**And yet I cannot go.**_

_**Clouds beyond clouds above me,**_

_**Wastes beyond wastes below;**_

_**But nothing drear can move me;**_

_**I will not, cannot go.**_

**~W~**

**Chapter 1 – Nightingale**

A beast slumped on the forest floor panting as much as his bruised and fractured rib cage would allow, his worn and beaten legs had long since given out on trying to carry him. He could hear the rain begin to get rapidly heavier; it stung as it reached his wounds, making him howl weakly and feebly. Laughter met his ears. They'd followed him all the way here? They hadn't been joking then; they really were going to kill him. Surrendering to the inevitable, he closed his tired eyes and relaxed, not willing to push himself any further.

Suddenly, through the rain and rumbling clouds, he could hear a voice. It was soft and soothing, humming tunelessly and happily as if all was right with the world.

"Oi, boss!" yelled one of the men "There's a girl by the lake, what she we do?"

The beast sensed the man closest to him stiffen, before planting a heavy metal-capped-boot kick in his ribs, breaking several of them and puncturing his lug "Ha. This one ain't goin' nowhere, we'll jus' leave him here t' die."

* * *

In the dead of night, beneath the glistening clouds and waning moon, surrounded on one side by a high cliff face, on the other by thick evergreen forest, there was a slender girl, sat on a boulder, wearing nothing but a dark blue bikini, her long wet hair hanging down her back. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be humming, which was the only sound other than the rustling of the wind in the trees and the rushing of the waterfall coming down from the mountains.

Maddie swung her legs back and forth consecutively, sat on the over-hang on the end of the pier-like formation someone had built out of rocks. Her toes just barely touched the surface of the lake, yet the water beneath her still moved as if her swinging legs were submerged up to the knee. The unnatural motions of the water were because of her abilities, because she was a mutant. She'd been travelling for more than a month now, or that's what it felt like, she'd lost track of the date a long time ago. To her great surprise, five and a half years of Girl Guides had actually come in handy when she camped out in the forest (which was more often than not) and of course, with her ability to manipulate water, catching fish to eat wasn't all that hard.

She looked round when the soft rustling became harsher, as if someone was pushing them aside roughly. Suddenly, something crept from the perimeter of the forest, faltering over the rocky bank. It whined and growled as if it were in great pain.

In the dull light of the moon, Maddie could only just make out its silhouette against the murky black of the forest. It appeared to be some kind of animal standing and stumbling on its hind legs, its features resembled that of a wolf, but that couldn't be right, wolves were nowhere near that big (it was at least seven feet tall) and as far as she knew, they didn't walk on their hind legs. Suddenly, it snapped its head round to face Maddie. Dark yellow eyes glared at her and Maddie found that she was unable to move. As abruptly as if the animal had been clubbed over the head, it dropped to the ground, almost shrinking in appearance. Swiftly, the fact that this creature could be dangerous was erased from her mind and she ran forward, worried for the creature. As she neared it, she noticed that it was no longer the hulking seven-foot-tall wolf-like creature, it was now a pale-skinned, tall, dark haired boy wearing nothing but a pair of battered, ripped cut-off jeans and carrying a satchel that was in much better condition than him. His breathing was shallow and pained; drying blood stained his paling skin.

* * *

Wolfgang blinked himself awake, forcing his bleary eyes open. His head was pounding and his throat felt as if he'd swallowed sand. Somebody had covered him with a blanket as well. It took him a moment to get his brain working enough to register where he was. The sky above him was dark and spattered with stars, the waning moon glowing brightly; there was a soft rushing and flowing of water nearby and a subtle crackling of a campfire. He guessed he must still be by the lake, but it was obviously much later now.

Lying back down and putting an arm over his eyes, he noticed that his throbbing migraine only seemed to be getting worse. He heard something move, and a moment later, he felt someone lean over him, but he didn't care to open his eyes. Delicate fingertips touched against his aching temples and a cooling sensation spread out from her touch, soothing over the throbbing parts of his head, clearing his mind and relaxing him.

He opened his eyes and looked up at whoever was leaning over him. It was a girl, she had long red-auburn hair and her eyes were closed. She was sat on her knees above his head. Her eyes flickered beneath their closed lids; there was a look of smooth concentration on her features. Without even having to ask her he knew that she was a mutant, and she must have the ability to heal people. As the cool feeling continued to pulse out from her fingertips, he reached up and gripped her wrist. Instantly, her eyes snapped open and her hands snatched away from his head, taking the cool feeling with them.

"Is this some weird habit you got?" he asked dully but sharply, she looked stunned and he sat up and turned to face her "Healing random strangers? For all you know I could be hunting down and killing mutants" she looked even more shocked, he sighed "Look, what I'm trying to say is, you should be more careful that's all"

"... Right...?" she stared at him, trying to make sense of what he'd said.

"And a headache's nothing, healing my ribs was enough, you didn't have to do anything else, the rest would have healed up on its own." he scolded.

"U-um, actually... that migraine was from a skull fracture, which caused several blood vessels to rupture, which could have given you a brain tumour, which could have killed you." She rushed, still looking slightly stunned at the scolding. He stared at her silently.

"Yeah, well... don't make a habit of it." He said eventually, crossing his legs

"What? Saving your life?" she asked, a hint of humour entering her voice.

"Yeah" he said simply

"You should get dressed before you catch a cold, here" she handed him a pile of clothes and a pair of Dock Martin's; he recognised them as his own. Only briefly wondering where she'd found his things, he walked over to the shelter of the forest. As he began to change, she called over to him "So what's your name?" she asked casually

He hesitated for a moment, half-way through taking off his, now ruined, jeans and pulling on an older pair "Wolfgang." He said "Yours?"

"I'm..." she hesitated "...Andromedea Williams..." she muttered

"What kind of name is that?" he asked, sitting back down opposite her as he buttoned up his shirt

"Shut up." She snapped "Don't you dare call me anything but Maddie."

Wolfgang pushed his now dry, floppy hair out of his eyes "I didn't mean that. You don't think Wolfgang's my real name do you?" she blushed and looked away from him "All the mutants I've met or heard of have ditched their old name and chosen their own"

"I know" she muttered "But I can never think of anything."

He observed her for a moment, thinking "Nightingale." He decided, she looked at him, bemused "Florence Nightingale was a nurse; you're a healer, same difference really."

"Nightingale..." she said the word carefully, cautiously, a thoughtful look on her face, when abruptly, she yawned

"Whatever." He yawned "It must take allot out of you to heal people. Get some sleep" he almost ordered her, as he got up off the blankets and sat on the opposite side of the campfire. She stared at him again. "Sleep" he insisted.


	2. Chapter 2

_After the first phase,_

_After passionate nights and intimate days,_

_Only then would he let me trace_

_The frozen river which ran through his face,_

_~M~_

**Chapter 2 – Story**

Still tired, Maddie stretched and yawned, before rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm herself up. It was cold this morning, very cold, considering how warm it had been yesterday. Catching her off guard as she stared out into the mist that had settled on the lake over night, Wolfgang threw a leather jacket at her. She held it up in front of her and looked at it for a moment.

"Put that on" he instructed

Hesitating slightly, she pulled it on. It was obviously too big for her as she only just came up to his shoulders. She looked over to Wolfgang, there were dark circles beneath his eyes, they were faint, but there, she wondered if he'd slept at all last night. Dismissing the thought, she picked up her bag and stood so that their campsite was between her and the lake. Slowly, she raised her hands and closed her eyes, holding her hands out towards the water; she concentrated on the water. Her hands moved gracefully to and fro with the tide of the water, pulling it higher and higher up the bank, up over the remains of the campfire, until it was completely washed away.

Wolfgang watched Maddie wash away the remnants of the campfire. He wondered if she'd left home for the same reason he had, and weather she had somewhere to travel to. His thoughts were interrupted by a whisper.

"_There... two of them – alone..."_

Searching for the source of the voice, Wolfgang span round, but there was no one but Maddie, who had lifted her bag onto her back and was talking to him.

"So I'll see you round?" she said, smiling as she handed his jacket back to him

"Yeah" he managed to say, she gave a small wave and began to walk away from him, into the trees. Wolfgang looked at the jacket in his hands "Wait!" he called, prompted by the voice, and jogged over to her, pushing the jacket back at her "It's not safe for mutants to travel alone, we'll go together."

"Go where?" she asked, looking from the jacket to him.

To be honest, he wasn't sure; it was like the voice he could still hear had taken over his speech for a moment. Just as he was about to speak, the voice instructed him.

"_Come, there is a place for mutants here, where you will both be safe. Professor Xavier's School for gifted youngsters."_

His attention was snapped away by a sharp jab to the ribs, Maddie was staring at him, her eyebrows raised "Don't just stand there staring into space!" she snapped, although she was smiling. For a moment he just stared at her, trying to make sense of the voice that was now fading.

"Um, there's a school..." he said, gradually coming back to reality "-for mutants, I hear it's safe there."

* * *

Professor Xavier opened his eyes and calmly took off the headset, his wheelchair turned and wheeled out of Cerebro. Scott was waiting for him on the other side of the door. He looked at the Professor inquisitively through his deep red sunglasses. The professor smiled "I believe two more will be joining us in the near future, both with rather interesting abilities." He added

"Professor?" enquired Scott, as he walked alongside the professor and reached the lift. Again, the professor smiled knowingly, and, without answering Scott's question, entered the lift.

* * *

Maddie looked up at Wolfgang; he had the usual look on his face, steady and almost stoic, but with the constant crease between his eyebrows, which, as she'd worked out, indicated that he was in deep thought. She'd been travelling, without complaint, with Wolfgang for nearly a week now, and, being the observant person that she was, she knew that he didn't like to talk much, but he'd respond if she spoke to him, or he'd just let her talk continuously without saying anything, but he did listen. Maddie wasn't the extremely talkative type like her mother had been and was perfectly content with just humming to herself. He seemed to take all opportunity to avoid human interaction and didn't like staying anywhere more than one night.

Although she hadn't questioned him when he'd said he knew where they were going, sometimes she wondered if he really did. Once or twice, he'd stop at a turn in the road and observe it for a moment, as if he was wondering whether they should turn here, although he'd never looked confused about their destination. Right now they were walking on the edge of a fairly quiet road, rain was beginning to fall steadily, and the wind was beginning to blow. Suddenly, Wolfgang stopped walking, staring into space.

"What?" she asked, almost bumping into him, she'd been staring at her feet.

He stared persistently straight ahead of him for a moment, the cease between his eyebrows deepening, before speaking "Don't walk behind me." He said. Maddie thought this was an odd request, but obliged anyway. When he'd said that, he'd reminded her of a friend from before she'd become a mutant, this friend was very paranoid about people walking behind him. Wolfgang continued walking down the road, and Maddie fell into step next to him.

As the rain began to fall heavier, Maddie pulled the up the collar of the leather jacket Wolfgang had leant her. Despite the cold, Wolfgang seemed perfectly fine in his t-shirt and jeans. When she asked wasn't he cold, he gave a noncommittal shrug. Without warning thunder rumbled loudly and lightning flashed across the sky. Unflinchingly, Wolfgang looked up at the sky, the rain beating against his face.

"We'll have to find somewhere to stay tonight." He said, thinking out loud.

It didn't take them long to find a cheap motel to stay in. It seemed to Maddie that Wolfgang knew where everything was even though he'd admitted to her that he'd never been anywhere outside of Washington. She'd wondered briefly if that was his power, finding things, or knowing where things were, but that didn't seem to suit the creature that he was when she'd first seen him.

_~WPOV~_

They looked cautiously round the shabby reception area, it looked as if it had been half-heartedly decorated in the sixties and then never redone. There was a balding, plump man in a stained t-shirt behind the desk, he was smoking a cheap cigarette and listening to a basketball game on a worn out old radio. Wolfgang went straight up to the man behind the desk; the man looked up at him groggily.

"How much for a room?" he asked sharply

"For one night? Twelve dollars" said the man; his eyes kept flicking from Wolfgang to Maddie. Wordlessly, Wolfgang handed the man the money and the man gave him a key. Not unaware of the man's wondering eyes, Wolfgang pushed Maddie in front of him and half steered her towards the door. "Hey girly!" the man called, Maddie turned to him, having to look round Wolfgang's arm as he wouldn't move. The man had a curious, slightly concerned look on his face. "How old are you?" he asked.

Maddie raised her eyebrows "Sixteen" she said indignantly

The man slumped back in his chair, watching them suspiciously "If you say so..." he muttered.

Wolfgang steered Maddie out the door, throwing the man a disgusted look. He glanced at the number attached to the room key and on pure instinct, turned left down the corridor.

Maddie lay on her side, watching Wolfgang supposedly sleep, he'd insisted that she had the bed and he slept on the none-too-comfortable looking sofa. He was lying on his back with his eyes closed and one arm behind his head. She was completely shattered, but she couldn't sleep. When he wasn't scowling, he was actually quite handsome, in a rather lazy way, although it wasn't like she _didn't_ like the scowl sometimes, it made him look very 'bad ass'. His jet-black hair was long enough to hang down into his eyes and he never seemed to care that it did, he had easily good-looking features.

"Stop watching me sleep" he said suddenly, breaking Maddie's train of thought

"If you were actually asleep you wouldn't notice" she muttered

"Wouldn't I?" he asked, which prompted a question that Maddie had been thinking about earlier.

"Um... Wolfgang? Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but you can ask something else."

She hesitated slightly "What's your power – I mean to say, like your mutation or whatever? 'Cause at the lake... well, I'm not sure what I saw but..."

This question seemed to inspire some kind of life into the usually stoic man. He turned and looked Maddie in the eye "I turn into a werewolf," he said calmly "In some respects anyway. I look like one, but the full moon isn't necessary."

"Oh... and how did you...?"

"Find out?" he finished her question for her "It's a long story" she didn't respond, so he continued "My younger sister was a mutant as well, her name was Sarah, she was a telekinetic, she could move things with her mind, anyway, she had a short temper sometimes and it was hard for her to control her power. She got really pissed once and things just kind of started to hover and explode randomly, of course people were freaked and it got round pretty fast, the next week she was snatched by two guys and beaten to death." He hesitated, though not a single ounce of emotion entered his voice "Of course it was only a half-assed job by the police, and they put it round that she'd taken a bad fall, but I was quite close to her, and I did everything in my power to hunt down the guys who did it, when I found them and asked them about it, they laughed and told me that she deserved what she got. I just lost it, I couldn't control myself. I transformed and attacked them. Sometimes I regret that I didn't kill them, when I see today's view on mutants."

Maddie just continued to watch the stoic look on his face, not even his eyes (which Maddie believed were the windows to someone's heart if you looked deep enough) gave away what he was really feeling.

"Does it scare you?" he asked abruptly

"What?"

"Does it scare you, my other form?"

The way he asked the question gave Maddie the impression that her answer was important to him, so she decided the whole truth would be better. "You did, at first, but I wasn't sure what you were, and its survival instinct to fear what we don't know isn't it? But now I know you, so you don't scare me anymore." She smiled slightly, even through the blank, unresponsive look on his face, she guessed that he'd never had that answer before and hadn't been expecting it. "Why'd you ask?" she said, stifling a yawn.

"Most people fear my other form and run from me when they see me, you didn't run, you came towards me." He said, hearing her suppress another yawn

"Well... you have my word that I'll never run from you" she said drowsily and then, a moment later, jumping back in their conversation "Is that why you hate the world?" she asked, sounding as if she was ready to drop off to sleep any moment now.

"What do you mean?"

"Because of what those men did to your sister? Is that why you hate the world?" she muttered sleepily, closing her eyes

Wolfgang thought for a moment, lying on his back again with his arms behind his head, watching a small spider on the ceiling, not quite sure what inspired him to say what he said next "I don't hate you." He whispered, but she was already fast asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_**So peaceful, so still  
she lies there,  
napping on our bed  
commandeering the sanctuary  
for her own devices  
but so sweetly  
so angelic in sleep  
so much a blessing  
when awake**_

_**~W~**_

Chapter 3 – Promise

Wolfgang, yet again, couldn't manage to sleep for more than an hour or so. He just couldn't relax. Instead, he watched Maddie sleep; it was so soothing and probably the most relaxed he was ever going to be now he had her to look after – although now he was no longer half-starved thanks to this woman's miraculous ability to make something out of nothing.

Meeting her was a godsend, he'd be dead if it weren't for her and empty-headed-ness; which was one of the reasons he just couldn't leave her to her own devices, if she'd just healed a random stranger without any thought that they could be dangerous, who knows what else she would have done? He couldn't have that on his conscience; he didn't even know how she'd survived this long on her own anyway.

She made small, content sounding noises (the kind you made when you got into a really comfortable bed when you were really tired) as she slept, like all was right with the world; she was so naïve, so oblivious to the world around her. Moving noiselessly, he got off the sofa and sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb her sleep. Now this close to her, it was useless, he couldn't resist anymore; he reached out a hand, and gently stroked her hair, tangling his fingers in auburn-red silk-like strands. Another soft, contented sigh left her lips and he hesitated, shutting his eyes, furrowing his brow. Before he had time to get his head back into order, a cold wind blew in through the gap in the frame of the window he couldn't shut. The cold didn't bother his unnaturally high body temperature, but she shivered and pulled the thin quilt closer round her. The temperature had begun to drop rapidly as the year headed into mid-autumn, which was why they'd been staying in motels as often as they could; once or twice they'd had to break into an empty house – well, the owners were on holiday – Maddie had persisted in the fact that they weren't savages, so she insisted they left everything as they found it and stayed for as little time as possible, (Wolfgang had even repaired a dodgy door handle simply because she'd asked him too, because it would be 'a nice way to tell them thank you for having us')

Instantly, he took his blanket, folding it up as he walked over to the window. Skilfully, he tucked the paper-thin blanket into the gap in the frame, blocking out the draft, and drew the curtains tightly shut. Looking at her again, he frowned, he had no idea how cold it was from her perspective. He scrunched his eyes shut and swore to himself that he'd wake up first. Carefully, he pulled back the covers and climbed in behind her, wrapping his arm round her waist and tucking one arm under the pillows.

Her scent hit him first. Not the fake flowery shit that loads of girls wore; it was more of a natural scent, like that fresh smell just after rain – and some kind of soap? – But it was intoxicating. Without knowing he was doing so, he buried his nose into her hair, and let the intoxicating scent fill his senses.

But he should have been paying more attention to his surroundings, had he been doing so, he would of noticed the shadow listening at the door.

_~S~_

_Thud-thud thud-thud thud-thud thud-thud thud-thud_

Wolfgang's eyes snapped open and he sprang up into a crouching position that was ready to strike. The hairs on his arms, and on the back of his neck, bristled in trepidation. Footfalls, about a dozen sets, had settled just outside the room. They were military-issue, he could tell, he hadn't spent eight years in the army-cadets and without being able to recognise certain things. His mind flicked through a hundred different scenarios, and in none of them did they turn out on top. The bathroom window was too small for either of them to even squeeze through, and there was no other way out. He looked across at Maddie, if it weren't for her, he would have fought his way out, and taken as many down with him as he could; but that wasn't the case, so he went for the safest option he could think of, without a fight.

As silently as he could – the fact that the mattress was so old and used that the springs were flat helped allot – he leaned over Maddie, then clasped a hand over her mouth. Almost instantly her eyes snapped open and she yelped through his hand, staring up at him, alarmed. He leaned in closer, so the tips of their noses touched. "_Shh_…" he rushed, glancing at the shadows he could see gathering outside the window. Just how many were there for only two mutants? "_You need to keep quiet, and do as they say_" he half begged, taking his hand off her mouth, stroking her hair "_I promise I'll get us out of this somehow_". There were multiple clicks of the safety coming off guns.

Her eyes showed plainly that she was terrified but she stayed silent, her nails dug into his biceps slightly. Suddenly the door was kicked open and straight off its hinges. Soldiers dressed in all-black riot-armour filed in, surrounding the bed, guns raised. They were blinded by the torches mounted on the guns, and Wolfgang growled, rounding on them and shielding Maddie.

A man that looked like their commanding officer marched in last, he wasn't holding a gun like the rest and he didn't have the helmet. "Aww" he mocked "Sorry to intrupt you two while you were… do mutants mate? Is that how you lot do it?" some of the men snickered slightly; he didn't flinch as Wolfgang snarled at him. He wasn't willing to change so close to Maddie, and he needed to protect her, that wasn't the way to do it at the moment. "Filthy species…" he muttered

"We're just as human as you are" snapped Maddie timidly, although Wolfgang could feel her trembling slightly "Just because we're higher up on the evolutionary scale than you Neanderthals"

"Aw, kitty's got claws" he humoured, before his smile disappeared "take 'um out" he instructed.

_~S~_

Maddie woke up with her face pressed against a cold metal floor, in a freezing cold room. There was a rumbling sound vibrating through the floor and she got the feeling that she was moving, or at least, the floor was? She unstuck her face from the floor and looked around, rubbing her throbbing head. As far as she could tell, she was in a truck, traveling at high-speed. There was a guard sat by the door, but he'd nodded off to sleep. There were small cells, separated my iron bars. There were several other people in the cells, all varying in age, race, gender; some of them were asleep, others looked just bored. She was in the corner cell, and there was barely enough room for her to be curled up in a ball like she was at the moment.

"Where the heck…?" she murmured, sitting up slowly

"Don't move too fast" instructed a voice, "you'll be a bit groggy for a while, wait until the tranquiliser wears off properly" She looked round, she was in a cage, and in the one adjacent to hers was a guy. He had kind-of fluffy black hair (although it looked like it hadn't been washed in a while), bright green eyes and a friendly face; he didn't look any older than she was, and he looked as if he'd been dressed up nicely in black button-down shirt and neatly-iron pants with polished dress-shoes, but that was before he'd been put in here and they'd been ripped, torn, singed, crumpled and dirtied. Despite the situation, he still grinned warmly at her "You've been out for a while, how's your head?"

"Um, a little heavy at the moment"

"That'll clear up soon enough; just try not to move too much. My name's Atom"

"Nice to meet you Adam, I'm-"

"No, no, no, A-t-o-m, A-tom, not A-dam" he spelled out "because I can kind of manipulate matter and stuff… but mainly I'm a Technopath, well, that's what I'm saying because I can't think of a name for it otherwise. And Atom isn't my real name, but I think it's best we don't use our real names" he half laughed, glancing to the guard, and Maddie wondered if the guard was only feigning sleep "and what about you?"

"I can manipulate water-"

"A Hydropath" he said,

"Yeah, and my name's… well my friend kinda nicknamed me 'Nightingale'…" then it seemed to strike her, where was Wolfgang? She looked round at the other cells, one of them was badly smashed up, the bars twisted and broken out of shape.

Atom followed her gaze "Oh that, yeah, that was interesting." He said, looking over the mangled bars of the cell furthest from them "The guy that was brought in with you-"

"Wolfgang"

"Yeah, well he was burnin' off the tranquiliser pretty quickly and he was already waking up when they were locking up" he jerked a thumb over towards the armoured metal doors behind the dozing guard "He watched you like a hawk, didn't take his eyes off you even once." Maddie couldn't hold back a small smile, Wolfgang was really quite sweet, being so protective "Then the guard got a little bored and he noticed him watching you, stared to make little jokes about it you know…" Atom rolled his eyes, she did know "He didn't seem to care, but then he opened your door – you were still unconscious at the time, completely out of it – and he got up and was like" he put on a deep voice, kind of like Wolfgang's "'you lay a single finger on her and I'll tear you to pieces' and the guard just laughed and then he… well, he did… _touch you_…"

Maddie suddenly felt violated, and she tucked her knees up to her chest "And?" she pushed

"He went ape-shit crazy man!" called in a guy from the cell on the other side of Atom; clearly he'd been listening in. He was black, like Atom, he too had been previously dressed smartly "Or should I say wolf-shit crazy! Dude started gettin' all mad, smashin' his hands against the bars, bending them all outta shape! Yellin' at him to get away from you and that, then he started shakin' like crazy and sproutin' hair all over his body. Dude was a Wolfman, it was crazy!"

"Yes, thank you Electrode, I think we've all established it was 'crazy' but I was doing perfectly well explaining on my own" said Harvey, giving his friend a mock look of annoyance "Nightingale, this is my partner in crime Electrode"

"Nice to meet you" she said politely

"Hey there" he said flirtatiously "I'm sorry about leaving you to captain boring here, but I'd drifted off to sleep"

She smiled, but wasn't willing to let the story go "So what happened next?" she pestered

"They brought out the big guns" grinned Electrode, and Maddie looked panicked

"Not like that" corrected Atom, giving his friend a scolding look "I think they must have used some kind of industrial strength stuff, because he's still not woken up. He's in there" he pointed to the vaulted door at the other end "he's alive, I can feel it, but he's been out of it for ages considering that the first only lasted about five minutes."

Maddie was about to call to Wolfgang through the metal door – she didn't doubt that he'd hear it – but the truck lurched to a halt and the guard snapped awake, standing bolt upright and stepping to the side a moment before the doors swung open and two soldiers filed in, opened Maddie's cage door, dragged her up and snapped her wrists behind her back in too-tight plastic cuffs. She was all-but thrown off the back of the truck where she only barely landed on her feet; another soldier grabbed her by the collar of her shirt – and some of her hair – and hauled her to the left and up a metal ramp that was ice cold beneath her bare feet. Amongst the yells of protest from the others in the van, two stuck out to her.

"You just wait, I'mma go all lightening-zap on your army ass!" yelled one voice, electrode. He was kicking up quite a fuss, but it kinda made her laugh a little. Both he and Atom were being restrained by two soldiers, while another was trying to gag them. Atom was just as loud, but he wasn't yelling at the soldiers.

"Remember what I said!" he yelled "Just-"a soldier managed to get the gag over his mouth, but he struggled out of it "Remember that!" he insisted. Maddie let herself be dragged backwards as Atom and Electrode were dragged up a different ramp; it looked as if they were being split up by gender. Then, finally, as she was being pulled through a door, the one person she'd been looking for emerged. He was hanging between two soldiers like a rag doll, his head lolling lazily.

"Wolfgang!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, he couldn't do anything if he was like that, and she was no match. She braced her feet stubbornly against the doorframe and screamed his name again "You promised!" This time he half-looked up and he would have seen her if the soldier hadn't smashed the butt of his gun into her foot.

She and several other girls were shut in a room containing a single table and chair, on the table was a clip board and pen, a glass and a jug of water. Sat at the table was a woman in a pristine white lab coat, her blonde hair was pulled into a stylish bun and her makeup was done impeccably; beneath the lab coat she wore a fitted grey pencil skirt and pink blouse. She beamed at them in what Maddie guessed was supposed to be a friendly way.

"Welcome girls, to our clinic" she said, her voice sugar-sweet


End file.
